As Nvidia's RTX 5090 seemingly disappears, I'm worried about GeForce GPUs

It's been a theory for quite some time now that Nvidia is — what's the polite way to put this? — let's say deprioritizing PC gamers, perhaps, or more specifically, its gaming graphics cards.

But this week has added more evidence to the collective weight that GeForce GPUs are increasingly at risk of being sidelined further by Team Green.

I'm talking first about the story that emerged a few days ago, where a leaker claimed Nvidia is diverting all GB202 (Blackwell) chips to make AI (RTX Pro) graphics cards.

That's the graphics processor used in the RTX 5090, but apparently not anymore; it's for AI boards only now, we're told .

That makes some sense as the RTX 5090 is already disappearing from shelves, certainly in the US, where you can't buy one for less than the best part of 10 grand (from gouging third-party sellers, with no major retailers actually having stock anymore).

So arguably this effective discontinuation of the RTX 5090 is already happening.

On top of that, the latest developments are that Micro Center is reportedly listing the Blackwell flagship as 'not carried', and Nvidia itself has removed all mention of the RTX 5090 from its own GPU marketplace (though it is still mentioned elsewhere on the site).

Search for the RTX 5090 on that marketplace, and you won't find it any longer — the highest-end graphics card listed is now the RTX 5080 ( hat tip to Wccftech for spotting this being flagged up on Reddit ).

Aside from an actual announcement from Nvidia (which probably wouldn't ever happen anyway), that seems like about as clear an indication you can get that the RTX 5090 has been shoved out of the exit door, never to return, because Nvidia needs those GB202 chips where they are most profitable.

RTX Pro GPUs offer a much heftier premium that Team Green can heap on top.

A new Blackwell flagship? (Image credit: Future) So, what does this mean? For starters, if it is true that the RTX 5090 has been scrapped, the RTX 5080 becomes the flagship Nvidia GeForce GPU.

Once the existing stock of RTX 5090s has been depleted, this could mean the price of the RTX 5080 is inflated.

When I say inflated, I mean jacked up even more , because it has already seen some nasty price hikes.

Currently, the RTX 5080 is at around $1,800 in the US on Newegg, or £1,450 on Overclockers in the UK – and those are the lowest prices; it goes up from there.